Disappearance on Platform Nine
by Often Partisan
Summary: Opal Koboi is on the run from the LEP, and she has a plan...passing herself off as a witch and attending Hogwarts. T to be safe. Post Opal Deception, during HBP.
1. Ch1: Belinda Bagshot

**Chapter One: Belinda Bagshot**

A petite 11 year old girl walked on to the Hogwarts Express, ready to start her first year of study. She found a compartment to sit alone, and gazed out of the window. She was actually deep in thought although she didn't look like it; most people would have concluded she was just mindlessly staring. Some other students entered the carriage, three young boys. They were also first years, who were chatting animatedly about the year ahead.

"What house do you reckon we'll be sorted into?" the blond haired boy was saying.

"My family's all Slytherin." A brown haired boy replied.

Opal Koboi forced herself to listen to their conversation. She hadn't had time to learn all details of the wizarding world, and maybe these young Mud Men would be able to tell her something useful. She'd use the _mesmer _on them, but she doubted anything they could tell her was worth the magical energy.

She'd escaped from the LEP after her plan to bring the People into contact with the Mud Men via iron probe had been thwarted by Artemis, Holly, Mulch and that _damned centaur_. Being Opal Koboi, she'd had a back-up plan, and working her way into Hogwarts had been it. A while ago she'd come across information – that would have been highly classified if it was not so outlandish – that some of the Mud Men had a magic of their own. It had long been a half-forgotten legend in the fairy world; most didn't believe it but perhaps a few did.

Opal used the massive resources at her disposal, as owner of Koboi Labs, to research the legend further. Years ago there had been strange sightings in the Mud Man world that involved people in funny clothes and owls acting oddly. The wizards were supposed to be hidden from the ordinary Mud Men, but on this occasion some had let themselves get too excited; some story to do with a boy named Potter. This confirmed to her that the legend was true, and it didn't take her long then to discover the magic school, Hogwarts.

The methods she's used to humanise herself in order to be on the human side in the war she planned to start could also be used to pass herself off as a young witch. She'd found an old witch named Bathilda Bagshot, in the place that those overexcited wizards had mentioned, Godric's Hollow. She was clearly losing many of her mental faculties, and this made her incredibly easy to use the_ mesmer_ upon. If anyone asked Bathilda, she would swear blind she had a granddaughter named Belinda, who was growing up nicely and was just about to start her first year at Hogwarts.

As for the wizards, well she figured that they wouldn't suspect any foul play. They knew nothing of the world underneath their feet, just like ordinary Mud Men. Perhaps fairy kind existed in myth, but that was all.

Opal made her way up towards the castle. She didn't think much of it; the design wasn't really to her taste. She was sure the place would be tiresome. A school filled with Mud Men – even if they were magic – was not Opal's idea of a good time. She wished she was back on her pod, floating on her trademark Koboi Hoverboy, eating the most gorgeous truffles known to fairy.

The others were grinning excitedly and pointing out different elements of the grounds to each other. Opal tried her best to look interested as some youngster jumped up and down at the sight of the Whomping Willow. They finally reached the castle, and a stern looking woman gave them a lecture regarding the sorting, house points and other such information. They went into the Great Hall and all of them stood in line, waiting for their name to be called. Many of them looked as if they were going to be sick, but Opal just looked a little bored. She watched as the brown haired boy she had seen on the train was indeed sorted into Slytherin, and wondered why she had to put that disgusting looking hat on her head.

A few other first years were sorted, and then she was called.

"Bagshot, Belinda."

She walked towards the hat and slowly lowered it onto her head. The hat spoke to her, something she wasn't really expecting.

"Hmm…difficult choice." The hat said, "Definitely got the brains for Ravenclaw, but still…I think best off in SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted. She walked over to the Slytherin table to applause.


	2. Ch2: Disappearance on Platform Nine

**Chapter Two: Disappearance on Platform Nine**

**LEP HQ**

Foaly poured over his state-of-the-art computer screens, attempting to track down Opal Koboi. Fortunately, the ship that she'd used to escape to the surface in was leaking plasma, and this was easy for the centaur to track down. She'd gone to the surface and ditched her leaking pod somewhere in the middle of London. The plasma could also be used to track her footsteps as it clung to her even as she walked away from the ship.

Unfortunately for Foaly, this is when things started to get messy. Her footsteps showed up fine until she walked across Platform Nine of King's Cross Station, London. After that, there was nothing; she had literally disappeared in mid-air. Foaly muttered to himself angrily. He would not allow her to outsmart him, not after what happened to Julius.

The first thing he did was to call Artemis Fowl.

"Artemis, we have a situation here." Foaly said to him.

"What's happened, Foaly?" Artemis responded.

"Opal Koboi – she's vanished. Look at the files for yourself Artemis."

Foaly sent a copy of the files to Artemis' computer, and Artemis spent time viewing them.

"I shouldn't have missed anything." Foaly said anxiously; the last thing he wanted was to be outsmarted by Artemis.

"There's nothing." confirmed Artemis, "We need to look at those tapes from the station, to give us an insight into where she is."

"Sounds like a plan. I've got some gadgets you can use to get access to the footage."

"As I expected."

"I'll be sending a couple of things that you can use. They are of my own invention of course."

**KING'S CROSS STATION, LONDON**

Artemis and Butler entered the station. Butler had bought a ticket for both of them. As far as anyone knew, they were ordinary people, returning home after a busy day in London. Artemis had got changed into some gear he would usually never be caught dead in: a hoodie, tracksuit and baseball cap. He'd much rather be in one of his designer suits. The clothes had their purpose however, to help hide his face and make it look as if he was just some young hooligan trying to vandalise the cameras in case they were caught.

It was a risk of course, to plant fairy technology in a human train station, but Foaly had made his gadgets look as inconspicuous as possible. He'd given Artemis a device that could be used to give Foaly access to the camera footage. It looked like just a spare bit of cable, but when it was wrapped round the security camera, it gave Foaly access to the whole system. He'd also given Artemis a sensor that needed to be placed near the backlog of CCTV footage. This would allow Foaly to pick up on any video of Opal. It looked just like a sticker, but it was actually a high-tech computer chip.

Artemis looked out across the train station; it was time to make a move. It was late at night and there wasn't a lot of activity at the moment. He walked over so he was standing underneath the security camera overlooking platform nine. Butler had already put the distraction in place so no-one would be paying attention to what he was up to.

Butler walked up behind him as Artemis heard something explode in the distance.

"Artemis, stand on my shoulders."

Artemis awkwardly followed instructions; it was the quickest way to get this done. He wrapped the piece of cable tightly round the wire at the back of the camera.

"Artemis, I'm in." he heard Foaly say in his ear. "I'll run a loop so they can't see you."

Artemis proceeded towards the security booth as he heard another explosion go off. The security officer had locked the door, so Artemis pulled something out of his pocket. It was a lock pick of his own design, based upon dwarf hair. He stuck it in the door and it opened quickly. Not quite as effective as dwarf hair yet, but Artemis was working on it; this was only a prototype. He pulled out the sensor and placed it behind the set of tapes that held the camera footage.

"Great, Artemis. I got them. I'll erase any trace of you from the cameras first. Then it's time to see what Opal has been up to."

**LEP HQ**

Foaly started analysing the tapes. Sure enough, he ran the footage on hyper speed until the computer found a match for Opal Koboi. And sure enough, the video footage confirmed the story that the plasma footsteps had told him. She walked across the platform and then disappeared in mid-air. Foaly played the tape in slow motion, frame by frame, wondering if there was something he'd missed. Nothing jumped out at him.

He rewound the tape, looking back over it. He played elements of it again and noticed that Opal wasn't the only one able to disappear through the barrier. Some of the Mud People were able to as well, although it seemed like most of the people around them were completely oblivious to this. There was something strange going on here, he was sure of it. It looked like some form of magic, and Foaly didn't think it was Opal Koboi's.

**FOWL MANOR, IRELAND**

Artemis drew the curtain s and got ready to sleep late. He'd got the last train out of the station and then flew home on his plane, and the tiredness was beginning to get to him. Foaly would wake him if anything important happened, he was sure. He tried to get to sleep but something kept tapping on the window. It was far too loud for him to sleep. He looked outside and found it was an owl. Even stranger, the owl was holding something looking like a piece of parchment.

Artemis looked at it, puzzled. People had actually trained owls to deliver messages? The owl continued to tap on the window. Artemis opened the window. The owl flew in, gave him the note, and then flew off again.

Artemis read it with curiosity. It read:

_Dear Mr Fowl,_

_Your fugitive is in our custody. She is currently attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I would appreciate it if your LEP teams would apprehend her quickly, as I have other matters to attend to. I allow fairies to enter the buildings of Hogwarts for this purpose._

_Albus Dumbledore._

_P.S. I would recommend that you do not inform the Muggle world of our existence, or I will be forced to wipe your memory. Again. _

Artemis opened the tiny transmitter he had been given and sent message to Foaly.

"Foaly, you should see this. It says that Opal Koboi travelled to a place called Hogwarts."

"That's bizarre." Foaly said. "Mud Men have magic? Sool is going to love this one."

Artemis could imagine. Sool wouldn't believe Foaly for a second, despite Foaly's past record of being right.

"Bet you're disappointed you didn't find them first, Artemis. They could have been another group for you to try and kidnap."

Artemis looked ashamed and changed the subject.


	3. Ch3: The Beautiful Slytherin

**Chapter Three: The Beautiful Slytherin**

**Short Chapter, I know, but it's mostly setting for later on.**

Mike, would you go to the potions cabinet and take the boomslang skin out of there?" The thick _Mesmer _layered Opal's voice.

"Potions…cabinet…" Mike echoed her words.

"Yes. The potions cabinet." Opal said, irritated. The first-year was easy enough to mesmerise, but acted the way all humans did, by repeating everything she said.

"Okay…" Mike said as he went to carry out Opal's will.

That was the fifth young Slytherin she'd managed to mesmerise so far. The others were also carrying out errands for her – or trying to, being useless mud men. Magic didn't really improve them much. She'd already got mad at two of them, who she'd told to sneak into Hogsmeade and find some truffles that would replace the ones in Haven. They'd been caught by Professor Snape and got themselves detention for the next month which generally made them useless for anything.

Opal settled down into a chair in the library and began reading _Hogwarts: A History_. A brown haired girl - _nowhere near as pretty as her, of course_ – looked up from the thick tome she was reading as Opal sat down. She sighed as page after page was filled with material she failed to find interesting. She didn't really care about the obscure origins of the Astronomy Tower. She'd already learned the most interesting thing there was to know about Hogwarts. Not only was the history tedious, the place was like living_ in_ history._ I mean, these people don't even understand cars, let alone the brilliant inventions of Koboi Labs. _

She put the book down and began to look around the library; it didn't take her long to notice the Restricted Section.

Hermione spoke to her in whispers. "You're not allowed in there. It's only for advanced students studying Defence of the Dark Arts."

Opal backed off while making a mental note to send one of the Slytherins in there later.


	4. The Suspicions of Severus Snape

Professor Snape headed towards the potions cabinet to collect some ingredients from the cupboard. Though he was no longer potions master, he still sometimes had need of the cabinet for his own purposes. As he perused the cabinet, he noticed that some of the ingredients that he needed were missing. First he checked with Slughorn, but he stated in no uncertain terms that there had been plenty of Boomslang skin in there, and that he certainly hadn't used it.

That left one conclusion: someone had been rummaging in the potions cabinet again. _What was Potter up to this time? _

Snape walked briskly out of the cabinet and towards Dumbledore's office. He had to be informed.

"Albus, ingredients from the potions cabinet have gone missing, _again_."

Dumbledore looked at him quizzically.

"Forgive me Albus, but this is Potter up to one of his schemes again. Remember the Polyjuice potion?"

"Have you got any evidence against the boy, Severus?"

"No, but –"

"I've told you before Severus, you only see what you believe you will see when it comes to Harry."

Snape walked off. He would evidently have to be more careful with the potions cabinet in future.

Severus Snape was not the only person around Hogwarts to have noticed that things were happening. Hermione Granger was also beginning to have her suspicions.

That Belinda girl was a strange one. She seemed to have even many of the older Slytherins, such as Draco Malfoy, wrapped around her little finger. A first year with such power? Hermione didn't think so.

Hermione's first thought was that she was dousing them in love potion – but that didn't seem quite right. They weren't acting smitten in _that_ sense, and Hermione thought that was a good thing too because it would have been seriously creepy. No, it more so seemed as if they were being controlled in another way. The Imperious Curse was her second thought, but no first year would be able to use that, not even if they were Voldemort's daughter.

No, there was something else. Not to mention the girl herself looked strange, and it wasn't just her height.

She started walking towards the library, wrapped up in her thoughts, when she suddenly realised that she didn't have time to go there before Defence of the Dark Arts. _Merlin's beard_, she murmured, before bolting off in the requisite direction.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, Miss Granger." Snape said acidly. She'd made it maybe thirty seconds late, but there was no point arguing with Snape.

Snape continued, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by Miss Granger, ingredients have been going missing from the potions cabinet again. I may no longer be Potions master, but I feel it is my duty to get to the bottom of such behaviour," He looked pointedly at Harry.

"I didn't take anything!" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.

Snape tried to suppress the grin on his face. "I didn't accuse you of anything, Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor, and see me after class to organise a detention."


End file.
